Anticode Open builder

Build a study planner app that turns subjects into sessions before each exam

A revision timetable written on paper falls apart the first time a day goes wrong. A study planner app takes your subjects, the topics in each, your exam dates and the hours you have, spreads sessions across the days that remain, and reshuffles when you miss one. Anticode can build that as a planner that saves on the student's own device, with a countdown to each exam and a tick for every session done.

Updated · By the Anticode team

What goes in

Exams
Subject, paper, date and time. Several papers per subject are common.
Topics
The syllabus broken into chunks a session can cover, each with a confidence rating (red, amber, green) the student sets.
Availability
Hours free on each weekday and at weekends, and days off entirely (a birthday, a shift at work).
Session length
Typically 25 to 50 minutes, with breaks. Let the student choose.

Confidence ratings do a lot of work. Weak topics should get more sessions, and topics rated green should still come back once or twice so they don't fade.

How the schedule gets built

The logic is a simple allocator rather than anything clever, and it should be explainable to a student in one sentence. A reasonable approach:

  1. Count the available sessions between today and each exam.
  2. Give each topic a weight from its confidence rating and how much of the paper it covers.
  3. Fill the days nearest each exam with that exam's topics, and spread earlier days across subjects, mixing them rather than doing one subject a week.
  4. Bring each topic back a few days after its first session for a shorter review, so material is revisited with gaps in between.
  5. Leave the final day before each exam lighter, for past papers and rest.

If the sessions needed don't fit, the planner should say so ("You need about 64 sessions and have 48") and suggest trimming green topics, rather than cramming twelve sessions into a day.

When a day goes wrong

Missed sessions are normal. The planner's value is in what happens next. A "Reschedule" button should move unfinished sessions into the next free slots without touching ticked ones, and the student should be able to drag a session to another day. Show the effect honestly: if the remaining time can't cover everything, say which topics will lose a review.

  • Today screen: the day's sessions in order, a big tick for each, and a countdown to the next exam.
  • Week view: a timetable grid that can be printed for the wall.
  • Progress: sessions done per subject, and how the red-amber-green ratings change as the student re-rates topics.

Describing it to Anticode

"A revision planner for GCSE students. Add exams with date and time, topics per subject with a red-amber-green rating, and free hours per day. Schedule 40-minute sessions up to each exam, mixing subjects, weighting red topics, with a short review three days after each first session and a lighter day before each exam. Today screen with ticks and a countdown, week grid to print, reschedule button for missed sessions. Saves on this device. Bright but calm design, large text."

Teachers can build one with their syllabus topics already filled in, then share the link: each student gets their own copy on their own device. Pair it with a flashcard app, practice test maker or Pomodoro timer for the sessions themselves.

Limits

  • No calendar sync. It can't add sessions to Google or Apple Calendar, or read existing events.
  • No notifications. It can't remind a student when a session starts if the app isn't open.
  • No teacher dashboard. Students' progress stays on their devices; a teacher can't see who's on track.
  • No official timetables. Exam dates can't be fetched; they're entered by hand, so check them against the official timetable.
  • One device. Plan on a phone and the laptop won't have it. An export file moves the plan.

Questions people ask

Can a study planner app work for university as well as school?

Yes. The same structure handles modules, coursework deadlines and exams; ask for deadlines as well as exam dates.

Does it need internet during revision?

No. Once loaded it runs in the browser, and it can be installed to the home screen with an offline fallback; test it offline before you rely on it.

How far ahead should a revision planner start?

It depends on the number of papers and how much each topic needs, which is exactly what the planner can show. Enter the exams and topics early and it will tell you whether the sessions you have are enough, so you find out in March rather than in May.

Can it mix in past papers?

Yes. Ask for past-paper sessions as their own type, scheduled in the final weeks before each exam, with space to note the mark so weak topics can be re-rated.

Can parents see the plan?

Only on the device it's on, or from a printed week view. There's no shared access.